The Divided Kingdom

and they forsake the house of Jehovah, God of their fathers, and serve the shrines and the idols, and there is wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guilt.

And He sendeth among them prophets, to bring them back unto Jehovah, and they testify against them, and they have not given ear;

and the Spirit of God hath clothed Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, and he standeth over-against the people, and saith to them, `Thus said God, Why are ye transgressing the commands of Jehovah, and prosper not? because ye have forsaken Jehovah--He doth forsake you.'

And they conspire against him, and stone him with stones by the command of the king, in the court of the house of Jehovah,

and Joash the king hath not remembered the kindness that Jehoiada his father did with him, and slayeth his son, and in his death he said, `Jehovah doth see, and require.'

And it cometh to pass, at the turn of the year, come up hath the force of Aram against him, and they come in unto Judah and Jerusalem, and destroy all the heads of the people from the people, and all their spoil they have sent to the king of Damascus,

for with few men have the force of Aram come in, and Jehovah hath given into their hand a mighty force for multitude, because they have forsaken Jehovah, God of their fathers; and with Joash they have executed judgments.

And in their going from him--for they left him with many diseases--his servants themselves have conspired against him, for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and slay him on his bed, and he dieth; and they bury him in the city of David, and have not buried him in the graves of the kings.

And these are those conspiring against him, Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

As to his sons, and the greatness of the burden upon him, and the foundation of the house of God, lo, they are written on the `Inquiry' of the book of the Kings; and reign doth Amaziah his son in his stead.

A son of twenty and five years hath Amaziah reigned, and twenty and nine years he hath reigned in Jerusalem, and the name of his mother is Jehoaddan of Jerusalem,

and he doth that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah--only, not with a perfect heart.

And it cometh to pass, when the kingdom hath been strong upon him, that he slayeth his servants, those smiting the king his father,

and their sons he hath not put to death, but did as is written in the law, in the book of Moses, whom Jehovah commanded, saying, `Fathers do not die for sons, and sons die not for fathers, but each for his own sin they die.'

And Amaziah gathereth Judah, and appointeth them, according to the house of the fathers, for heads of the thousands, and for heads of the hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin; and he inspecteth them from a son of twenty years and upward, and findeth them three hundred thousand chosen ones, going forth to the host, holding spear and target.

And he hireth out of Israel a hundred thousand mighty ones of valour, with a hundred talents of silver;

and a man of God hath come in unto him, saying, `O king, the host of Israel doth not go with thee; for Jehovah is not with Israel--all the sons of Ephraim;

but if thou art going--do it , be strong for battle, God doth cause thee to stumble before an enemy, for there is power in God to help, and to cause to stumble.'

And Amaziah saith to the man of God, `And what--to do for the hundred talents that I have given to the troop of Israel?' And the man of God saith, `Jehovah hath more to give to thee than this.'

And Amaziah separateth them--for the troop that hath come in unto him from Ephraim to go to their own place, and their anger doth burn mightily against Judah, and they turn back to their place in the heat of anger.

And Amaziah hath strengthened himself, and leadeth his people, and goeth to the Valley of Salt, and smiteth the sons of Seir--ten thousand.

And ten thousand alive have the sons of Judah taken captive, and they bring them to the top of the rock, and cast them from the top of the rock, and all of them have been broken.

And the sons of the troop that Amaziah hath sent back from going with him to battle--they rush against cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Beth-Horon, and smite of them three thousand, and seize much prey.

And it cometh to pass, after the coming in of Amaziah from smiting the Edomites, that he bringeth in the gods of the sons of Seir, and establisheth them to him for gods, and before them doth bow himself, and to them he maketh perfume.

And the anger of Jehovah burneth against Amaziah, and He sendeth unto him a prophet, and he saith unto him, `Why hast thou sought the gods of the people that have not delivered their people out of thy hand?'